HUMAN INFANT COLOR-VISION AND COLOR-PERCEPTION

Major issues in research on the human infant's sensory and perceptual coding of wavelength information are discussed. It is firmly established that two-month-old infants are at least dichromatic, but there are no clear data on whether they are trichromatic. There is some evidence to suggest that the basic sensory capacities required for color processing are different for infants than for adults, but specifics on the ontogenetic course are as yet unknown. Despite the recent increase in publications in this area, a critical review of the experimental literature yields few firm conclusions. Methodological considerations barring conclusions from the older literature persist to the present. In terms of perceptual processing, doubt is cast on recently advanced ideas that infants and adults perceive hue categorically. © 1979 Ablex Publishing Corporation.